Officials at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore are hitting the pause button on a controversial 4.25-mile extension of the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail. At a press conference held Wednesday afternoon, Park Superintendent Scott Tucker announced that all design work on the planned extension, popularly known as Segment 9, would be halted until further notice.

Speaking to The Ticker ahead of the announcement, Tucker says the decision was made “after almost 15 tribal consultations over the last nine months” with the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians (GTB). The Tribe raised concerns about the project this summer, criticizing its “potential impacts on wetlands, tree removal, and the treaty gathering rights of our Tribal members.”

“The proposed extension threatens to disrupt delicate wetland ecosystems, which are vital to the environmental health of the region,” GTB Tribal Chair Sandra Witherspoon wrote in an August letter addressed to Tucker, U.S. Senators Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow, and U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland. “Wetlands serve as critical habitats for a wide variety of species, including those that are culturally significant to the GTB. The proposed tree removal further exacerbates these environmental concerns, potentially leading to habitat destruction and a loss of biodiversity.”

While GTB wasn’t the only critic of Segment 9 – a variety of local citizens groups and state or national environmental organizations also expressed opposition to the project – the Tribe’s dissenting view had the biggest impact. When the Leelanau Ticker last touched base with Tucker in early October, he vowed that Segment 9 would not proceed without the blessing of Tribal leaders.

“I can promise that no other funds are going to be expended on the Heritage Trail until we have a buildable, constructible, maintainable, permittable design that the GTB supports,” Tucker told The Ticker last month.

Now, as the project hits the brakes, Tucker says it was ultimately the Tribe’s “concerns with work around wetlands, dunes, and trees” that prompted a change of heart for park leadership.

“In the end, with the responsibility that we have as federal employees, with Tribal trust and on ancestral [Native American] lands, it was a pretty easy decision to pause Segment 9 when the GTB flagged concerns,” Tucker says.

Segment 9 was intended to be the final extension of the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail, which has been in the works since 2005. Construction on the trail kicked off back in 2011, and as of 2024, over 21 miles of the trail’s planned 26 miles are on the ground. As the capper, Segment 9 would have added approximately 4.25 miles of path between the current stopping point at Bohemian Road and a long-planned northern terminus at Good Harbor Trail.

The trail extension became a hot-button issue this year in the wake of an independent environmental impact study published in January by the local property owners group Little Traverse Lake Association (LTLA). Performed by Borealis Consulting of Traverse City, the study estimated that Segment 9 would require routing trail through sensitive dune and wetland ecosystems and removing nearly 7,300 trees.

Despite the pushback, Tucker initially stood firm in his insistence that Segment 9 would proceed. Speaking to the Leelanau Ticker in March, Tucker said that the Borealis report had not “changed the conversation” around Segment 9 internally, adding that design work was still underway on the final 4.25-mile stretch. While Tucker acknowledged at the time that “there would be impacts” from building Segment 9, he also noted that the park’s job is “to balance out recreation and visitor access with resource preservation,” and that “the first 21 miles [of the Heritage Trail] are a good benchmark of both the demand for the trail and our sustainability and sensitivity to the landscape.”

The project was still very much on track when The Ticker talked to Tucker last month. The superintendent said at the time that designs for Segment 9 were around 60 percent done, and that an updated draft of the design would likely be shared with stakeholders – including the National Park Service, the GTB, and the general public – this winter.

While Tucker stresses that Segment 9 is paused and not necessarily cancelled, he also notes that the ball is now very much in GTB’s court.

“It's paused, and if it restarts up again, it will be in conjunction with the GTB for a new planning effort,” Tucker tells the Leelanau Ticker. A press release sent out by the park on Wednesday afternoon adds that the existing design “will serve as a foundation for future planning efforts,” if/when the project resumes.

On the subject of private funding, which project partner TART Trails was raising on behalf of the National Park Service to help pay for Segment 9, Tucker says TART will likely “go back to each individual donor and discuss where that donor wants their money to go” now that the project is on indefinite hold. Clark said last month that TART had raised “close to $4 million” for the trail extension, which had an estimated price tag around $15 million.

“As the fundraising agent and fiduciary for [Segment 9], TART Trails respects our partners' decision-making process despite our disappointment in the outcome,” Clark says. “We remain dedicated to the community's vision of safe, accessible trails that connect communities to the rich history and breathtaking landscapes of our region. We’re incredibly proud of the 21 miles of the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail already on the ground today, and we look forward to continued collaborations that advance meaningful non-motorized transportation and recreation opportunities in the National Park and throughout the Grand Traverse region.”

Note: This article has been updated to include a statement from TART Trails CEO Julie Clark, who The Ticker did not reach before initial press time.